Norris overcomes error to beat Red Bull pair to sprint race pole

11 comments on “Norris overcomes error to beat Red Bull pair to sprint race pole”

1. 

   Jere (@jerejj)
   4th November 2023, 15:34

   The clean-up & repair process was unnecessarily long.
2. 

   Maisch (@maisch)
   4th November 2023, 15:43

   Is it just me that got tired of the sprint stuff? I tried watching it first, but it didnt add much other than revealing the race speeds of the teams. Its just too much F1 sessions for a weekend. Has anyone seen the view numbers for the sprints? Or maybe its just me.
   1. 

      Yes (@come-on-kubica)
      4th November 2023, 16:03

      It kills my interest in the entire weekend. Forget quali is on, laboured Saturday then a dull Sunday. Awful structure and pointless.
   2. 

      baasbas
      4th November 2023, 16:06

      @maisch
      Same, we already had a qualifying session.. I didn’t feel like watching another. But here’s the thing, will you watch the sprint? It will take away excitement from the race tomorrow
   3. 

      lynn-m
      4th November 2023, 16:39

      I watched the sprints the first year they did them in 2021 but have completely skipped all of the Friday & Saturday running for every sprint weekend last year & this year.

      I just tune into the GP about 5 minutes before the start on sprint weekends.

      And given how they keep talking about changing the format, Throwing more gimmicks at them such as reverse grids, Huge cash prizes etc.. it seems like i’m not the only one as surely if they were bringing in more viewers or at least retaining what was seen on normal weekends they wouldn’t feel the need to keep changing the format in some way every year to try and bring people in.

      Just feels like the concept has failed to do anything they hoped it would.
   4. 

      Alan Wright
      4th November 2023, 16:49

      Yes!! They must fix this soon.
   5. 

      lucifer (@lucifer)
      4th November 2023, 16:52

      it dawned of me today that I am actually tired of watching 2 quali sessions and 2 race sessions(one being a mini race) during a weekend. I might be the only one but I actually do enjoy FP during a weekend.
3. 

   califormula1fan
   4th November 2023, 16:09

   I have forgotten the point of the Sprints. It is fake drama, that could have real consequences if there is a serious accident. If Free Practice sessions are unnecessary, then cut out Fridays all together and just run Practice 1, Qualifying, and Race. Saves tires, fuel, and gives one more travel day between race weekends.

   Oh, wait. FP2 and FP3 ARE useful in getting cars optimally setup for qualifying and racing. Dump the truly wasteful Sprint Shootout and Sprint and lets have better racing on Sunday
4. 

   T
   4th November 2023, 16:32

   The commentators were talking about the point of the sprint and they briefly touched on making it standalone but then dismissed it as they rightly claimed a lot of the teams would just use it as a test session and that got me thinking.

   Make it a standalone €/$/50million “championship”.
   Now, I can hear you questioning how would adding cash solve anything. Valid question, throwing €/$/50million at it and leaving it at that would exacerbate issues.

   I propose a 6 round standalone (no points towards FIA World Championship) €/$50million (Liberty pays for this) “championship” with the first two rounds being a blind qualifying that splits the grid into two factions (10 each) respectively competing for a portion of €/$30million and €/$20million to add to their budgets – no questions asked. The only caveat being the money can’t cross development paths. If Mercedes chooses to spend their share on engine, it all goes to engine, if Haas picks aero, it all goes to aero, likewise if Williams picks equipment upgrades it all goes there, you get the picture. The top ten competes for a piece of €/$20million while the lower competing for €/$30million. This incentives the lesser performant teams as the pie is larger but the dividend stays the same thus provides them with more money to invest in their infrastructure and car to better themselves. Again, I hear you question, wouldn’t the faster teams just limp around to guarantee themselves a spot in the €/$30million faction. Again, valid question and concern, but I believe this is where the blind qualifying comes into play:

   The first two rounds are just a qualifying shootout. You get ten laps and the softest tires to put your best foot forward, that’s it. You dictate how you use these laps: cool push, cool push or push cool cool push, etc. You only know your time and your teammate’s, but you have no idea what the other team’s times are. No one is allowed near the start finish line to secretly time others.
   Now to incentivize viewership, the times are only displayed as a relative H2H within the team. We don’t know what the Mercedes drivers’ times are but we do know Russell is faster than Hamilton. Teams reserve the right to publish the actual delta value. So while we don’t know either Haas driver’s time and thus don’t know if they managed to put out a better time than say Alfa Romeo, we do know Kevin is a tenth faster than Nico and Bottas is half a second faster than Zhou. Of course, teams will speculate and journalists will publish but that’s the fun of it all right? For two rounds we don’t know and we’re all guessing!
   We do this for two rounds on (street) tracks that bias different halves of the car (front limited track on one round, rear limited at another) giving us four separate blind times from each team. The FIA then computes the median time for each team and that sets the factions for the respective €/$20million and €/$30million.

   Again, the top ten competes for 20mill and the lower ten competes for 30mill over the course of the next 4 rounds. I don’t know if it’ll be spicier if the teams still don’t know their times and thus don’t know what faction they’re in at this point to keep them guessing or if the FIA will publish the data from the two qualifying rounds. I just think it’d be funnier if an Alfa Romeo sneaked into the top ten 20mill faction you know. Anyway, these 4 rounds may consist of vanilla twenty laps races (I’m partial to this) or a relay time trail where teammates have to work together. (I’d hate this but we gotta drive excitement I guess). If we go with vanilla laps, I say let all 20 cars race for the four rounds and don’t tell them what faction they’re in till the end, let an Alpine guess if it needs to fight an Alfa Romeo or let it through to deal with an Aston Martin but what do you think? too artificial?

   The top five placed from each respective faction for the four rounds are share the prize money on a sliding percentage scale. This way, less performant teams like Williams may net €/$ 5mill while more performant teams like Mercedes or Red Bull only pick up say €/$3.6mill. And we both know the €/$1.4mill difference is better served at a team like Williams and they would have fought hard and risked a lot for it.
   As a feel good or giving back measure, 10% goes to the team’s motorsport scholarship/charity of their choosing. Team gets social credit and a tax credit and the money funds junior careers – win win in that regard.

   This isn’t perfect and I’m open to critiques; just please be nice to me. I’ll be around to answer questions!
   1. 

      lynn-m
      4th November 2023, 16:42

      Sounds far too complex given how one of the key goals was allegedly to try and attract newer/younger viewers who don’t have the patience or attention span to sit through a real race.

      Even for someone like me who’s been watching for decades and understands every element of the sport that’s all too complex.

      Should be simple so you can watch without needing loads of graphics to explain how it works. Especially given how rubbish Croft is getting confused at even the simplest thing as it is.
      1. 

         T
         4th November 2023, 16:52

         fair point!
         It did initially start out with just swapping out points for money but then different use cases and questions kept popping up that couldn’t be left unattended. This admittedly complex method would ensure a relatively fair competition as for all intents and purposes, the current format is effectively a waste of time and resources for 12 out of the twenty cars on the grid and for me personally, sucks excitement from a grand prix

         cheers!

Comments are closed.